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Law catches up with cousins after high speed A34 chase

TWO cousins who led police on a car chase on the A34, reaching speeds of 106mph, have been jailed.

Witney men Simon Parker and Vicky Butler ran a “campaign of car crime” before the high-speed pursuit in late August, Oxford Crown Court heard yesterday. The thieves, of Judds Close, took cars from Oxfordshire and Hampshire and used them to steal fuel from garages, the court heard.

Prosecutor Henry James said the police spotted the suspects in Hampshire at 10pm on August 29 and chased them up the A34 in to Oxfordshire for 20 minutes at speeds ranging between 80 and 106mph.

He said three police cars were involved in the pursuit and one was damaged after Parker, the driver, swerved into it.

The chase ended when police laid a stinger device across the road and punctured the tyres on the A4185 near Didcot.

Mr James said: “This was a persistent campaign of car crime over the course of the summer culminating in what was a very bad piece of aggravated vehicle taking on a busy, dangerous road.”

Aneurin Brewer, defending, said Parker had “found himself at a loss” after a relationship break-up.

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He said Butler had a “difficult childhood” and “negative peer influences”.

Parker admitted aggravated vehicle taking, making off without paying for fuel and dangerous driving. He also asked for a taking of a vehicle crime, theft of number plates, and two vehicle interference crimes to be taken into account.

Butler, admitted aggravated vehicle taking and making off without paying for fuel.

He also admitted shoplifting and four fuel thefts between August 5 and August 15.

He asked for a taking of a vehicle, two fuel thefts and a number plate theft, to be taken into consideration. Judge Mary Jane Mowat, sentencing Parker to 12 months and Butler to 16 months, said the car chase was “about as bad as it gets”.